I really do not why I don’t care much for Voice Over IP. It’s certainly technical. Heck man, if you’re stuck on QoS, go ask a voice geek. Resellers are begging for more voice engineers, so it’s a great career path. You can really do some very cool things with it that your end users just will love you for. Heck, if there’s a more visible direct impact to a business other than voice, I’d like to know what it is.

But still; when funding comes thru for a voice show I’m always thinking…”meh”… Which is funny because without a doubt our best and most award winning shows have been on voice! You’d think I’d love it right? Hey ya what? when was younger growing up in the hills of Tennessee (hereby referred to as God’s One True Love from henceforth) my first experience with hacking was on our telephone system with rapid hook switch tapping to become a tandem or punching thru busy signals was a real hoot. Of course the Capt’n introduced us to blue boxing and a splendid time was guaranteed for all…

Next week is a TechWiseTV taping week for us. Right now, this show has two things going against it; first off, it’s a voice show and second (and most important) it’s also an upgrade show. Yep folks, that’s right a push to get you to upgrade your CUCM.

Now look, we all have bills to pay so there always some level of butt kissing and boot licking that has to go on any show. Video is expensive. For me, I never ever ever promote ANYTHING on TechWiseTV that I would not be happy to stand by or even support in the future. I’m grateful TechWiseTV can do that. We turn down shows because we just do not believe it’s the best for the network. Like my Grandmother taught me all those years ago…”If ya ain’t got nuthin’ nice to say, then shut the friggen crap up goober…” Ah she was quite the wordsmith for sure.

I don’t know about y’all, but I am not a big upgrade person at all. Upgrading sucks worst then a going camping with your mother in law on Indy 500 race weekend and forgetting the beer. From and engineering view point; why fix something that isn’t broke? Upgrading means my hardware is going to be slower (if it’s compatible), my licensing is going to be really messed up, tech support is going to be worthless, major downtime, oh yeah…and this is voice? Namely Cisco voice, wholly friggen shnikasourus rex man! You need a PhD in CUCM licensing to figure that one out, plus my dial plan, migrating my DB…and you know what…that camping trip is looking better all the time now….

Robb and I designed this show to have the voice team prove us that we need to upgrade. To be honest, they better bring their “A” game. ‘Cause I ain’t buying it yet. TechWiseTV is unscripted and we do not see the content that our guests bring on the show beforehand. We like to keep it real and spontaneous. We just ask that slides have minimal words, no marketing or vision statement crap, any quote from any analysis puts you in Aldrich Ames status and removed from the set and have the slides in 16×9 format.

I’m bringing all of these doubts onto the set on Tuesday morning to see if they can address them. It’s still early, so if there is something you want to make sure we cover, toss in your comments before 16Jul13 and we’ll cover ‘um…then tune it see…upgrade or not?? In the meantime, anyone got a tent I can borrow?

Jimmy Ray Purser

Trivia File Transfer Protocol

A pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold. This is because feathers are measured in avoirdupois weight which is 16 ounces per pound and gold is weighed in troy weight which is 12 ounces per pound.

The flexibility enabled by an IP based communication system is exemplified in how Cisco handles Session Management. In fact, the combination of ‘Session Management Edition and CUBE (Cisco Unified Border Element) remain the most cost effective way to transition from a traditional PBX environment without sacrificing previous investments.

Extend – Deploy collaboration applications at the network core and extend them to users, even those on third-party PBXs

In this latest in the Fundamentals series from TechWiseTV, we tackle the core technology hopefully explains it in a fun way. Get your head wrapped around Session Management and make sure you are not missing anything!

What is the saying, two great tastes that taste great (better) together? This is in essence, the best way to describe the value of putting your Cisco Unified Communications on the Cisco Unified Computing Platform. While its certainly logical that we do something like this but and to the benefit of our customers, we have steadily increased the number of materials that help explain not just why this can be a huge cost and workflow savings, but also how one goes about doing it.

You can get a lot of written details but we of course suggest you watch one of our latest in the ‘Fundamentals’ series to get you ready.

Many have argued that the PCI DSS, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is too complex to be realistic in a real-world environment. Cisco takes the opposite stance maintaining that the principles and security standards contained within the documentation should actually be considered a minimum. The true challenge being not in the implementation but in the ongoing management – the maintenance if you will.

This show promises to layout a simplified view of the standard with real-world, practical advice where anyone can find exactly how they would apply their unique situation. We have pulled out all the stops with our story-telling and top notch guests as we have members of the standards board, networking experts and certifies QSA auditors joining us.

PCI. It’s not just for Breakfast

It’s amazing how many networks fall into the “compliance required” category. For PCI it only takes one credit card transaction to be at risk…but rather than focus on the negativity of the required audit – this topic and the maturity of the standard is actually good for ANYONE interested in protecting their data. You may have the typically binary response as to whether this show applies to you…but I think you need to give it a go. You may be surprised….the show and the Shownotes are after the jump.

*What do you think of our new home? When you click the link above, you will need to give up a little info at first to get registered…but once you do…you are DONE! You can watch this show and all the others…surf around, leave a comment,…or let us know what you think about all of it in the comments below.

I never ask for directions... but...

This show features a little something for everyone – see you after the jump…Read More »

Some of the individuals posting to this site, including the moderators, work for Cisco Systems. Opinions expressed here and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors, not of Cisco. The content is provided for informational purposes only and is not meant to be an endorsement or representation by Cisco or any other party. This site is available to the public. No information you consider confidential should be posted to this site. By posting you agree to be solely responsible for the content of all information you contribute, link to, or otherwise upload to the Website and release Cisco from any liability related to your use of the Website. You also grant to Cisco a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free and fully-paid, transferable (including rights to sublicense) right to exercise all copyright, publicity, and moral rights with respect to any original content you provide. The comments are moderated. Comments will appear as soon as they are approved by the moderator.